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Frenzy over sequester hits Capitol Hill

And several industry leaders in North Carolina — home to what they said are more than 46,000 high-skilled defense jobs — sent a letter to Congress urging them to stop the sequester.

“[S]equestration could cost the state at least 11,000 jobs (and potentially more if local bases and installations are cut),” the letter said. “The matter cannot be put off until a lame-duck session of Congress as firms are already shedding jobs and holding off on projects in the current climate of uncertainty and risk.”

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The issue will take center stage Wednesday at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on the effects of cuts to the defense industry.

“The committee has been working for a year to put a human face on what some see as merely a political bargaining chip: automatic defense cuts,” said committee spokesman Claude Chafin. “This hearing will highlight what many of our members already know, that between layoff notices, critical shortage of military resources and driving our men and women out of the force, these cuts are already doing irrevocable damage.”

But Democrats, at least so far, are showing no sign of buckling. Washington Sen. Patty Murray on Monday offered the latest vow to get tough with Republicans on the so-called fiscal cliff — a combination of tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to go into effect next year absent congressional action.

“You know what? If Democrats were willing to accept a wildly imbalanced deficit-reduction plan to avoid the automatic cuts — we would have done that back in the supercommittee,” Murray said at a speech at The Brookings Institution on Monday. “But we didn’t then, and we will not now.”

And rank-and-file Democratic lawmakers — even those whose constituents back home could disproportionately bear the pain of the automatic cuts — are stiffening their spines, too. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said he’s urging defense companies to pressure Republicans to accept revenue as part of the equation.

“Reasonable people understand that revenue needs to be on the table,” Connolly said. “You’re not going to solve it by spending cuts alone.”

And it’s not just Congress and defense industry types who are issuing warnings. The National Governors Association said it’s increasingly worried about the effects of sequestration on local economies.

“I think the president needs to lead on this, get Congress back and do something about sequestration,” Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said on CNN on Sunday.

Defense officials are watching closely what happens on the Hill.

“It’s our strong desire to avoid sequestration and devastating defense cuts that would be triggered if a budget agreement isn’t reached,” Pentagon spokesman George Little told POLITICO. “We have made our concerns clear to the United States Congress, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Hill to address questions related to the Defense Department budget and the strategy-driven process that guided our budget proposals.”

Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said progress must be made in Congress this week.

“Congress should stay in session unless and until these cuts are off the table, and the president, as commander in chief, must provide the leadership necessary to resolve this,” said Rigell’s spokeswoman, Kim Mosser Knapp.

Readers' Comments (76)

The sequester is a self-inflicted wound, unnecessarily created by Congressional Republicans to show that they were really, really serious about that debt ceiling issue that they then decided wasn't so life-and-death after all.

The sequester is a self-inflicted wound, unnecessarily created by Congressional Republicans to show that they were really, really serious about that debt ceiling issue that they then decided wasn't so life-and-death after all.

Absolutely right. And unfortunately what we're seenig in 2012, thanks to House GOP from preventing any serious jobs bills, is what economic recovery looks like under an austerity mindset. And what we've seen is a noticeable slowing in the recovery. Just like happened in 2010 in the UK where the stimulus approach was working until it was replaced by an austerity plan and the British economy fell into a double-dip recession.

Elect Obama again if you want to go off the fiscal cliff. If you want Groundhog Day, with every month over 8 percent unemployment for the next four years, elect Obama. If you want the whole country to look like California, elect Obama. If you want more poor people, elect Obama.

Isn't that the reason why the tea party Congressmen were sent to DC in 2010? What's the problem? Are we now saying that those cuts were only intended for show and that teabaggers want to spend more? I'm sorry, not being a conservative I find this rather difficult to follow.

Isn't that the reason why the tea party Congressmen were sent to DC in 2010? What's the problem? Are we now saying that those cuts were only intended for show and that teabaggers want to spend more? I'm sorry, not being a conservative I find this rather difficult to follow.

Is the GOP so intent on keeping tax breaks for the wealthy that they'll sacrifice the nation's defense?

Am I the only one amused by the House Repubs indignation at an agreement that they signed onto?

That if no agreement could be reached to cut the deficit then there would across the board sequestration.

It is no surprise that Cheney, who once was actually a big cheese at Halliburton a defense contractor that grossed billions on the Iraq war, would don his Halliburton lobbyist hat and give the House repubs an earful.

If he's been drinking and wants to show ya his shotgun, flee immediately.

Cheney is a clever and dangerous man with nothing to lose. History has judged him harshly on counterinsurgency ethics, the imperial presidency, and manipulating GWBush. He has everything to gain by playing the defense hero. But all the blackmail, black ops, and obscure House rules won't pull this one out. Watch your back this time, Mr. Vice President. You have a lot more secrets than Mitt Romney.

Now that Cheney is healthy again wouldn't he make a great VP on the Romney ticket? Everything a conservative could wish for. Only one problem for innocent "I ran the Olympics" Mitt Romney --- the cold chill of waking up one morning and finding Dick Cheney in control.

In one sign of the seriousness of the issue, Cheney will meet with House Republicans on Tuesday about how to stop sequestration from hitting the defense budget,

Mr. Cheney refuses to accept he is no longer POTUS.

It’s been nearly a year since the president demanded a half a trillion dollars in automatic cuts to defense at the end of this year, and yet with the date now fast approaching, we still don’t know how he intends to handle it,” Sen. Mitch McConnell said on the floor on Monday.

There is no evidence that Mitt Romney exercised his powers at private equity firm Bain Capital after 1999 or directed funds’ investments after leaving, The New York Times reported.

Although some documents place the Republican presidential hopeful in charge of Bain from 1999 to 2001, a period in which the company outsourced jobs and ran companies that fell into bankruptcy, it is not related to who was running Bain at the time, the Times reported.

“It’s a disconnect between the ownership interest and managerial functions,” Harvey Pitt, who served as S.E.C. chairman under President George W. Bush, told the Times. “When Bain takes positions in public companies, they’re required to show anyone who has an ownership interest that could be the effective equivalent of control. So Romney has to be shown on those filings.

"If they didn’t show them on those filings, they would have broken the law. But it has nothing to do with who’s actually running Bain Capital,” Pitt added.

The newspaper also pointed to an offering memorandum to investors in a Bain equity fund that was circulated in June 2000 and suggests Romney was not involved in the management of investments. The memorandum lists backgrounds on 18 managers, or “senior private equity investment professionals of Bain Capital,” and Romney is not among them.

Finally, a 2001 filing lists Michael F. Goss as “president, managing director and chief financial officer,” along with 17 other managing directors, with Romney absent from the list. His absence shows that he still owned Bain’s management company but was not an officer.

Oh, this is rich! The little Republican boys have to get Daddy Halliburton in to help them renege on their own cuts they put in place. Obama is right. We are winding down our last war and need to use that money to rebuild our country through infrastructure spending. Americans are sick to death of our taxes going to military contractors.

Democrats, please serve the GOP what they have been serving you--a big helping of NOTHING! Let the cuts go through and let President Obama & the military brass decide where to cut, just as the GOP previously AGREED to do.